Kingdom Hearts: Twilight Souls
by v1rul3nce
Summary: Set in the future of the Kingdom Hearts universe, this tells the story of a new group of Keybearers as they wage a contiuous battle against the Heartless, Nobodies, and the darkness in people's hearts. Features OCs, new worlds, and new enemies.
1. Advent

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. That belongs to Square-Enix/Disney, but the OCs are mine._

_A/N: Well, finally I did it, my own KH fanfic thingy. This takes place in the future of the KH universe and involves the adventures of my OCs. A few notes on the text: Thoughts are italicized and the bolded all-caps text was originally written in the Chiller font to give the appearance of a monster talking and I'm too lazy to fix it. Please read and review, it will help me know whether I should continue this or not. Constructive critisim would be gladly appreciated, just no flaming. If you don't like something, let me know why, give me a reason. Anyways, hope you enjoy!_

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**Chapter 1: Advent  
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It was twilight, the time right between day and night and the sun is just below the horizon. The sunset cast a soft orange glow across the sky, illuminating the clouds with multiple shades of red and orange and faded into dark blue speckled with scattered stars. The town was also bathed in the red-yellow light, which reflected off the windows and made them shine. A girl walked down the road on the edge of the town, humming a tune as she headed home. Her backpack hung off one shoulder and her arms were wrapped around a paper grocery bag. A soft breeze blew through her purple hair as her violet eyes turned to the sky.

"Beautiful," she whispered as she gazed at the glowing, multi-colored sky. Just then, one of the stars began to grow and shine even brighter until it became a deep red and simply disappeared from the sky. "There goes another one," she sighed. '_It's been like this for the past year. Stars are just vanishing from the sky. Wonder why?' _ She turned back to the house at the end of the road. "Almost home! Wonder what mom's gonna cook tonight?" she said happily and resumed her tune.

Suddenly, a strange feeling began to creep over her. She found herself unable to move a muscle, or even make a noise. '_Wh-what's going on?_' she thought as fear filled her. She felt as if she were suffocating, though she could breathe just fine. She felt claustrophobic despite being out in the open. The girl began to panic.

Then, a black slit cut the air in front of her. She yelped and jumped back; the grocery bag fell from her grasp and spilled its contents all over the road. The slit quickly expanded into a large gaping hole swirling with a black and purple mist. Fear kept the girl frozen to the spot, staring into the darkness. All of a sudden, a young man stumbled out of the hole and fell to his hands and knees. The hole vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The girl stood paralyzed for another moment before her mind registered the boy in front of her.

"Oh my god!" She hurried forward to help him. He was in bad shape. His clothes were shredded and soaked with blood. He was covered in dirt, sweat, cuts, and bruises. His left arm seemed to be broken. Blood also ran out from under his dark, matted hair and down his face.

Then the boy began to stand, supporting himself on his odd looking sword. '_What in the world?_' The girl thought staring in awe. '_He looks like he's been through hell and he can still stand?'_ The boy looked up at her. The girl yelped and jumped back, '_His eyes -- they're glowing yellow!' _He was exhausted but still tried to take a step forward. He began to fall backwards, but the girl caught him and helped slow his fall, setting him somewhat gently on the ground with his back leaning against her. "What happened to you! Whoa!"

The boy's eyes gradually changed and faded into normal brown eyes. He shook his head, slowly.

She laid him down carefully. "I'll be right back, alright? I'll go get help. Don't die!" She took off running towards her house hoping the boy would be okay as he passed out.

_Darkness_. Darkness was everywhere. It was pitch black all around. The dark even seemed to be seeping into his body. He was tired, couldn't hold out much longer. **FIGHT**. He had to keep fighting, keep the darkness from getting a hold of him. Someone else was there. He was struggling against the darkness as well. **HELP HIM**. He had to help him, he was being called. But the darkness was too much. He felt himself being lifted up and away.

"Aiden!"

He bolted up, panting heavily and drenched with sweat. He quickly wiped the sweat off his face with a bandaged hand. '_Wait, bandages?'_ He looked down and inspected his body. He was covered in bandages. They were wrapped all around his arms, legs, chest, stomach, and even his head. _'Jeez, what the hell happened to me?'_ he thought.

Then, he became aware of his surroundings. He was sitting on a soft, comfortable bed in a nice, clean bedroom. Sunlight streamed through the open window on his left, followed by a cool breeze that fluttered though the curtains and through a few spikes of the boy's hair that stuck out through the bandages. Directly across from the foot of the bed were a closet and an open door that led to a tiled room, most likely a bathroom. On the right, beside the door was a small desk and chair, on top of which were some carefully folded clothes. A trash can beside the desk was full of bloody bandages.

But the thing that really caught the boy's attention was the long, dark, metallic blue sword that stood leaning against the desk. It consisted of a handle covered in a black wrap with a bright blue gem set in the hilt. The gem connected to a one-sided blade that had two white, bone-like extensions growing out near the bottom on both sides to form a hand guard around the handle. The blade ended in a wicked curve and on its dull side were several "teeth", similar to that of an old key. In fact the whole thing very vaguely resembled a large key.

Slowly, the boy pulled himself out of bed and carefully got to his feet. '_Damn, how long was I out?'_ His body felt sore and stiff. He tried to move around, but he was so stiff he could barely move. Slowly and awkwardly, he made his way to the bathroom to inspect himself in the mirror.

"Wow." The figure staring back at him looked like a mummy. '_No wonder why I can't move. Someone went a little overboard here.'_ He found most of the bandages unnecessary and unwrapped himself. However he kept the cast on his left arm and the bandages around his head since those two areas didn't seem to be healed yet.

After getting rid of the bandages, he looked himself over again, and again thought, '_Jeez, what the hell happened to me?'_ His body seemed to be covered in scars now. They were everywhere; chest, back, arms, legs. '_The hell did I do, get into a fight with a pack of wild animals or something?'_ Most of the scars did seem to have been made by claws. He shook his head and went to get some clothes on.

'_What the…? Whoever took care of me has no idea what they're doing,'_ he sighed as he held them up. '_First the bandages, now this._' His clothes which were as torn up as he was, seemed to be patched the same way he was. All the holes were either sewn up or covered with an odd patch. However, he found that he had a brand new long-sleeved t-shirt, underwear, and shoes. He put those on along with his patched up pants and short-sleeved zip-up hoodie/jacket.

Then he turned to the sword. '_Is this mine?'_ he wondered. '_Wait, this is what I was using to fight in my dream. Yeah, it's comin' back now. Did that dream really happen? That darkness…?'_ He went to lift it up. However, as soon as his hand touched the handle, a word flashed through his mind: "_Keyblade_".

"A Keyblade." The boy took a few practice swings and no longer doubted that it was his.

He then began looking around for a strap or sheath for the blade, but found none. '_What do I do, carry it around like this all the time?'_ Suddenly another thought flashed through his mind. He concentrated and the blade vanished in a bright swirl of light. He concentrated again and it reappeared in his hand. "That's, uh…weird."

"Mom, I'm home!" yelled the purple haired girl, bursting through the front door. She shut the door and dropped her bag next to it.

"I'm in the kitchen! About time you got back, Risa."

"Yeah, I know, Mom," she muttered as she slumped into a chair in the dining room. "My stupid teacher gave us a pop quiz a couple minutes before school ended and wouldn't let us out until everyone finished."

"You shouldn't be calling your teacher stupid, hon," Risa's mother said.

"Well he is." She rolled her eyes. "Anyway, what's for dinner? I'm starving!"

Her mother entered the room carrying a steaming pan which she set on the table, "Chicken."

Risa set out the plates and silverware. Then, just before they began eating, they heard a noise and turned around. Risa gasped, "You shouldn't be walking around yet! There's no way you're healed!"

The boy simply shrugged. Suddenly, Risa was up and inspecting the boy, pulling up his sleeves, checking his face, and even pulling up his shirt.

"Whoa! Whoa! What the hell are you doing!" The boy jumped back and yanked his shirt down.

"Risa!" shouted her mother.

"No way…" she said, sitting back down still staring in awe. '_Just this morning, he was still bleeding…'_

"I'm sorry, young man. You'll have to forgive her. But, at least you're finally awake." Risa's mother smiled at the young man in the doorway. There was a moment of awkward silence, then, "Well, don't just stand there. Why don't you join us for dinner? You must be starving."

The young man nodded and sat down as Risa's mom fetched a plate from the kitchen, filled it, and set it in front of him. "Uh…thanks."

"Oh, it's no problem, dear. We're just glad that you're alive. In fact, you should be thanking Risa here. She's the one that found you two days ago. She even did most of the bandaging and um, uh…fixed, your clothes."

The boy turned to her, but Risa shook her head and gestured with her hands, "Nah, it's no big deal really! I couldn't just leave you to die in the middle of the road."

The boy nodded and began eating. The three of them ate in silence for a few moments before Risa's mom asked, "So, why don't you tell us a little about yourself?"

The boy looked up at her and appeared to be thinking. "…I don't really remember much."

"Aw, come on," Risa whined.

Her mother glared at her, then asked the boy, "Why don't you start with your name?"

The boy thought for a second, '_In my dream…I remember someone calling a name…Aiden! Is that my name?'_ "…Aiden."

"Well, nice to meet you Aiden. My name is Rose." The boy nodded in response. "Do you remember how old you are?"

"Uh…sixteen…I think." '_Am I really…?'_

"Oh! That's just a year younger that Risa."

"Yeah," Risa piped up. "So, Aiden, do you remember where you're from? Like your city, or hometown, or somethin'?"

"No. Not really," he sighed.

"So you don't think you're from around here?"

"Uh, where is here?"

"Oh, yeah, this is the town of Advent."

'_Doesn't sound familiar. Besides,' _Aiden shook his head, "It's too bright here…" he muttered.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" asked Rose.

"Nothing," he told her and began eating again. The other two followed his example and they all ate in silence for several minutes.

'_It's never been this quiet before,'_ Risa thought. '_Mom and I always have something to talk about. I can't stand this!'_ She looked up at her mother, then at the boy. "Uh…Aiden?"

He looked at her as he ate.

"So, where'd you get that sword of yours? You know, you didn't let go of that thing the whole time you were unconscious? I practically had to pry it out of your hand."

"…I don't remember where I got it. It's called a Keyblade."

"Huh. A Keyblade? That's a weird name."

He shrugged.

"Key…you think it opens something?"

He shrugged again.

Suddenly, a clock somewhere rang six o'clock.

"Oh!" Rose exclaimed. "I've got laundry to do. Are you kids done?" They nodded. "Okay. Risa help me clear this up. Aiden, you're welcome to stay here with us at least until you're memory comes back. I doubt your amnesia is permanent." She smiled.

"Thanks."

_Later that night…_

Aiden found himself falling headfirst into darkness. _'Whoa, what's going on? I'm falling. Is this a dream?'_ He couldn't see a thing. But this time, the darkness was different, '_I'm not afraid this time….'_

His descent slowed and he was able to slowly flip over. His feet abruptly hit something solid and he was able to stand. He glanced around, eyes trying to peer into the darkness. He took a step forward and a bright light suddenly burst from the floor. He shielded his eyes with his arm as the light quickly spread out in a circle and became a flock of white birds flying outwards into the darkness.

Aiden jerked up once again and found himself back in the guest room with an alarm clock buzzing loudly. He pounded the annoying noise off as he sat up.

He covered his face with his hands, '_What the hell is wrong with me? What's with the weird dreams?'_ He glanced at the clock which displayed 7:00. He sighed as he threw the covers off and got up to dress. Last night, Rose and Risa decided it would be best if Aiden attended school. Though he could not recall anything specific, he knew he used to go to school, and remembered he didn't like it. But he decided not to argue with the two women. Besides, maybe using his brain would help his memory. He went downstairs to get some breakfast.

"Hey, you'll probably need these," Risa said after they finished eating, handing Aiden a spare notebook, a pencil, and a pen. "You remember how to use these, right?"

He nodded.

The three of them then left the house. Rose came along to help with the registration. Nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day. Aiden went through a registration and orientation, though he didn't really pay much attention to what was going on. It was taking too long since it was unusual for a new kid to join in the middle of the year and he ended up getting lost in his thoughts most of the time, trying to remember his past and where'd he'd come from.

'_As long as I don't do something stupid, I won't get in trouble,'_ he figured, as he mostly ignored the lecture on the school rules.

The school required him to take a placement test and he was surprised by what he knew. He did more than well enough to be placed in the senior class, Risa's grade level. He began classes soon after and was again surprised by how much he already knew. He tended to sit towards the back corners and simply followed instructions, though his mind was usually elsewhere.

Risa was in several classes and even showed him around school and taught Aiden how to use his locker and how to get food at the cafeteria. However, he didn't like the noise of the school and found his way to the roof, where he spent his free time trying to figure out who he was. He even began playing with his Keyblade.

'_Swinging this thing around just feels so natural to me,'_ he noticed. '_It's like I've been doing this forever…'_

He spent the next couple of weeks like this, simply going to school and helping with chores around the house. He dreamt about the darkness a few more times, but was glad it didn't happen often. Risa and her mother weren't able to learn much more about him. Aiden kept to himself most of the time and wasn't very social, unlike Risa, who was friendly and took part in school activities. She was even on the track team and started practice not long after Aiden came along.

On her first day of practice, Aiden decided to wait for her and watched from the roof of the school. However, he didn't realize how long it would be and accidentally fell asleep.

Suddenly, someone was shaking him, "Hey, get up, you lazy bum."

Aiden opened his eyes to see Risa kneeling over him. He was surprised that the sun was almost gone already and the stars were visible.

"You're lucky I saw you up here during practice," she told him as he sat up. "So, this is where you hang out all the time. No wonder I never see you at lunch, then again I'm usually busy. Students aren't allowed up here, you know?"

He yawned. "Whatever."

"Wow, it is nice up here." She leaned on the railing and watched as the last light from the sun began to disappear.

"Yeah," Aiden agreed.

"Hey, maybe I'll give you some company up here sometime." She closed her eyes as the breeze blew through her purple hair. She turned to him, "But if I get caught, it'll be your fault."

Aiden shrugged, "Come on, let's go."

They reached the school's front steps when Risa suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, I'll race you home!"

Aiden gave her a strange look. "Aren't you tired?"

She grinned and took off.

"Wha–?" Suddenly her gym bag collided with his face. "Hey!" Quickly, Aiden slung the bag around himself and followed.

Risa smiled to herself, '_There's no way he'll beat me!'_ She glanced over her shoulder to see how bad she was beating him, "What!" All of a sudden, he had caught up and was now ahead of her. '_He's fast!' _She pushed herself even harder, but couldn't catch up.

By the time she reached her house, Aiden was already sitting on the front porch steps, grinning. She collapsed on the porch next to him. "Y…ou…cheated!" she accused him between breaths.

He gave her a questioning look, "I cheated? I think this is yours." He dropped the bag next to her.

"Shut…up. I was…al…ready…tired."

"I told you-" She glared at him. "Fine, whatever." He leaned back against the next step and looked up at the sky. The sun had already set and several scattered stars were visible against the dark sky. A while ago, Risa had told him how she found him. As he stared at the specks of light, a crazy thought occurred to him, '_Huh, maybe I'm from somewhere up there?_' he thought to himself. '_Wonder if my memory will ever come back. What am I doing here anyway? These last couple weeks…I don't know, something's wrong with this. Everything just feels too…normal. Like it's too good to be true. What happened to me?_'

He gazed at the stars for a minute or two when, suddenly, one of the stars began to expand and turn a bright red. Aiden stopped to watch as it disappeared, '_What the hell?_'

"Hey, what's up?" Risa asked, sitting up and wrapping her arms around her knees.

"A star just disappeared."

She looked up at the sky, "So, another one's gone, huh?"

He gave her a questioning look.

"They've been disappearing like that almost every night for over a year."

'_Every night…? I've been here for two weeks, how come I never noticed until now?_'

"There's so few now…," she sighed. "You should've seen the sky before; it used to be covered with stars. Hey! There goes another one! Weird…I've never seen two go in one night."

As Aiden watched the second one go out, something happened. Something inside him snapped. He began to fill with an incredible pain and…hunger. Darkness began to fill his mind. He screamed.

"Aiden!" Risa grabbed his shoulders and tried to see what was wrong, but, when he turned to her, '_His eyes are yellow again!'_

Aiden threw her off as he clutched his head and began to stumble about. '_WHAT'S HAPPENING!' _he screamed to himself.

The darkness spoke to him. "**RELEASE ME!**" it roared. Aiden felt it as it began to take over his body. A strange shadow was beginning to move across the left side of his face, spreading from his glowing yellow eyes.

'_No! Leave me alone!'_

"**WHY DO YOU WASTE YOUR TIME HERE!**"

'_You can't control me! Get out!'_

"**STOP TRYING TO CONFINE ME!**"

"Aiden! What's going on!" Risa screamed as she watched him thrash around. '_What do I do? What do I do!'_

Suddenly, Aiden stopped thrashing. The darkness on his face quickly receded as his eyes turned back to normal and he collapsed.

"What!" Aiden quickly pushed himself up and looked around. As his eyes adjusted, Aiden found himself atop some sort of column or platform. The floor was decorated with tile that formed a large picture of three people, and each wielded a Keyblade. The person on the left was a red-headed girl in a pink dress holding a key adorned with flowers. On the right was a silver-haired boy in a white vest and blue pants holding a sword shaped like a dragon's wing with an angel's wing on the back near the tip and an angel's wing and demon's wing forming the hand guard. Between them was a boy with brown hair and black clothing wielding a large silver key. Behind the three figures was what seemed to be the silhouette of a duck holding a wand, a dog holding a shield, and a mouse with another large key.

'Where the hell am I?' Aiden asked himself.

"**Come forward! You must awaken once again!**"

"What? Who's there?" Aiden shouted. He took a step forward. Suddenly the column began to shake and three stones rose out of the ground, each bathed in light. Floating above the stones were a staff, a shield, and a sword.

"**CHOOSE WELL…**"

Aiden examined the three weapons. '_I have to choose one? Shield seems kind of useless as a weapon. What would I do with it? Throw it? That leaves the wand and the sword…_' He walked up to the sword and pulled it out of the light. '_Think I'm more comfortable relying on my physical strength. Plus, my Keyblade is more like a sword.'_

"**THE POWER OF THE WARRIOR. INVINCIBLE COURAGE. A SWORD OF TERRIBLE DESTRUCTION. HEH HEH, GOOD CHOICE…**"

The weapons all disappeared in a flash of light and the sword in Aiden's hand was replaced by his Keyblade. Suddenly, the darkness surrounding the column jumped at him. Instinctively, Aiden hopped back and two hunched creatures landed before him.

'_The hell!'_

The creatures were pitch black and seemed to be made of shadows. They were vaguely human-like but had large clawed hands and long lightning-shaped antenna that bent back over their heads, almost touching the ground. They glared at him with their bright yellow eyes.

'_What are those things!'_

"**HEARTLESS.**"

'_And for that matter, who the hell are you?'_

"**HEH, I'M YOU.**"

Before Aiden could respond, the Heartless attacked. The first leapt at him, trying to claw his face. Aiden barely got his Keyblade up to block the claws then swung it, throwing the monster back. The second dashed forward, trying to gut Aiden with his left claw, but Aiden quickly sidestepped the attack and countered with two quick horizontal strikes, back and forth, to the Heartless' exposed back. It exploded into a dark cloud that quickly dissipated. However, while Aiden dealt with the second one, the first had melted into a dark shadow that swiftly moved behind the boy. Aiden spun around to find it leaping out of the shadow and at his face once again. So he fell into a back roll and slashed at the creature as it flew over him, dividing it in two right down the middle as it puffed away.

Aiden got to his feet in the center of the column and saw five more shadows moving towards him from the edges.

'_More?'_

However, they were quickly dispatched by the Keyblade and Aiden got by without a scratch. Then he looked around the empty platform, '_Now what?'_

As if on cue, a curving flight of tiled steps appeared in the darkness. Aiden ran upstairs to find a platform similar to the one he just left. As he stepped towards the middle, he heard the sound of shattering glass. He spun around to see the steps shattering. He was trapped again.

Around the edges of the platform, white creatures began to appear. They seemed similar to the Heartless he just fought, but instead of hunched over, they stood leaning backwards and moved with a strange sinuous motion. Instead of claws, their hands ended in points and they had no eyes on their triangular heads.

Aiden dropped into a fighting stance as the creatures surrounded him. They stopped in a circle around him and a zipper underneath where their eyes should be unzipped to show a mouth lined with pointed teeth.

"**NOBODIES.**"

'_Wait, what did you mean you're me?'_

Suddenly, they began to move around him performing strange somersaults as their bodies stretched and snapped back. Then one attacked, trying to stab Aiden with a pointed hand. Aiden slid under the thrust and suddenly, all the Nobodies that had been watching him seemed confused. They stopped moving and looked side to side. Aiden quickly dispatched the one in front of him and the one next to it before the rest finally caught on. Aiden found these Nobodies were rather simple to destroy if he dodged their initial attack and swiftly finished off the rest.

When he finished, Aiden looked around, expecting another flight of steps. He was surprised when a large door and a treasure chest appeared instead.

"**OPEN THEM.**"

Aiden walked over to the door and tried the knob. '_Locked_.' He tried the chest. '_This too._'

"Hey, open them with what?" he called to the voice.

"**DON'T BE STUPID.**" The voice seemed to sigh.

'_Wha – oh, duh. Keyblade.'_ He struck the chest with the blade and it popped open with a flash of light. Inside was a small vial. Its label said "Potion." He shrugged and stuffed it into a pocket. Then he went to the door and hit it. It burst open with an extremely bright light forcing the boy to shield his eyes. When the light faded he found himself on the same platform still facing the door.

'_This is getting old,'_ he muttered to himself. '_I'm not getting anywhere.'_ Suddenly, there was another bright flash of light and someone else stepped through it.

"Aiden!"

"Huh? Risa?" '_What's she doing here?'_

"Aiden! What's going on? Is this a dream?"

"Uh…I don't know." Then he noticed what was in her hand, "Hey, is that a Keyblade?"

"What? This?" She held it up. It was shorter than his and had more of a rod shape than a bladed one. It was wrapped in a red ribbon that also formed the hand guard. "Yeah, I guess. That's what this disembodied voice told me. I've been using it to fight off these weird creatures. Oh, and it opened the door that took me here."

'_Same as me…'_

Then, without warning, the entire column began to rumble and shake violently. Aiden tried to brace himself but Risa fell into him and they both ended up on the ground.

"Oh, what now!" she wailed.

Then it appeared, forming in the darkness. It was enormous. Most of its face and body was covered in tattered bandages. It had no legs and its body ended in a sharp, bladed tail and its arms resembled the torn sleeves of a robe. Bone wings burst from its back and a dark halo appeared behind it. Glowing, angry blue eyes were visible beneath the bandages.

'_Oh shit.'_

Risa got up and ran for the door with Aiden right behind her. She yelped as the door began to fade away. Risa fell through it but Aiden caught the back of her shirt and pulled her away from the edge.

"**YOU COWARD! FIGHT IT!**"

"Damn it, we have no choice!" He spun around to face it.

Risa gave him a bewildered look, "You have to be kidding! There's no way we stand a chance against that thing!"

"Look where we are! Where are we gonna go?"

She looked at the monster, her eyes full of fear. She protested weakly, "N-no, I c-can't—"

"Shit! Move!" Aiden shoved her onto her back and jumped backwards, just as the monster swept by them with its tail. The monster came back around and Aiden rolled back as the tail smashed down where he'd been a moment ago. But as soon as he got to his feet, he was forced to dive sideways as a pointed bone wing tried to impale him. He quickly got back on his feet and jumped at the monster, slashing its arm as it attempted to yank its wing out of the floor. It let out a roar as it retreated, but there was no blood. It disappeared back into the darkness.

'_Damn! Where'd it go?'_ Aiden muttered to himself as he pried into the darkness. As he glanced around, he saw that Risa was still frozen on the ground. '_Wait a sec!'_ "Risa!"

He ran to her and barely got his Keyblade between her and the monster's tail as it appeared from the darkness once again. The force of the blow caused his arms to go numb. "Jeez, it's heavy!"

Risa finally snapped out of it as she saw Aiden holding off the fiend. "Aiden…" '_I'll fight too!'_

Suddenly three bursts of white energy struck the monster's face and it fell back. '_What?_' Aiden looked over his shoulder to see Risa aiming her Keyblade with both hands. She grinned at him.

But there was no time to celebrate as the creature came back at them. They split up to dodge several wing strikes and Risa fired several bursts at its face. It roared again and shielded its eyes. Aiden took his chance. He dashed underneath the monster, jumped up, and scored three more cuts across its chest. It collapsed on the ground, but before either could attack again, the monster slid off the side of the platform. The two hurried over to the edge and looked down into the darkness.

"Where'd it go?" Risa asked. Aiden shook his head in response.

Suddenly the creature appeared behind them and swerved up above the center of the stage. Then it began to spin faster and faster, until all Aiden could see was a blur. Several little white-blue orbs flew out from it and floated down. Before they hit the ground, the orbs burst into semi-transparent blue-gray creatures with rounded heads and glowing blue eyes that resembled tears running down their faces.

"What are those things?" Risa wondered. "Heartless?"

Aiden watched them, studying their movements. Their motion resembled that of the Nobodies in that it was slightly unpredictable. The creatures moved slowly, bent over with its arms dangling, and faded in and out of sight as they advanced in odd directions. Their heads also had a slight twitchy movement.

Aiden got ready as one of the creatures neared him, but it didn't really seem to notice him.

Suddenly, all the creatures shrieked simultaneously. Risa screamed, stumbled over, and fell. Aiden nearly lost his head, but got his Key up in time to parry the creature's arm. But the monster didn't let up and pressed the attack. Aiden backshuffled quickly, blocking and dodging the flailing arms. He heard Risa scream again. He found an opening and knocked the monster away with a roundhouse to the head. He spun around to see several of the creatures being blasted away by Risa who was still on the ground. She didn't see the ones creeping up behind her.

Aiden hurried to her, jumped over her, and nailed one with a kick to the face. He kept his foot planted on it and rode it down to the ground, smashing its head into the floor. It burst into sparks and faded away. He got two more with a horizontal slash. Behind him, Risa shot several more, blocked an attack, kicked the monster away, and shot it point blank in the face.

When they finished off the last of the creatures, Aiden looked up to see that the boss had been using the distraction to charge up another attack. Its arms were up and its halo was spinning as a massive ball of energy formed above its head.

"Crap! We're gonna die!" Risa whined. "Aiden, what do we do!"

Aiden looked around but there still wasn't anywhere to run. The monster's ball kept growing until it was larger than the platform and pulsed with a bright, multicolored light. Then it reared back and flung it down at the two teens.

'_Oh damn! What do I do?'_ They had no where to run and the energy ball was getting closer and closer. Aiden could feel the wind generated by the energy pressing down on him. He looked down to his Keyblade and was struck by a crazy idea.

Risa shut her eyes as the ball crashed into the platform with an electric sound. '_I'm dead!'_ she thought. She opened one eye slowly to find that she was still on the column with the massive ball still floating above her, but it had stopped moving. In front of her Aiden was holding up the ball with his Keyblade. A bright white light shone where the two objects met. '_Whoa.'_

"Risa, a little help?" Aiden shouted over the noise and wind. Quickly, she swung her Keyblade against it,though she knew it was only a matter of time before they got tired. Then the ball would fall and obliterate them. She was surprised when she felt the ball giving as they pressed against it.

Aiden gritted his teeth and put all his strength into the effort. All of a sudden the ball was rushing back to its caster. Aiden and Risa both fell to their hands and knees as the ball moved, breathing hard. The monster's eyes grew large as it saw its own spell coming back. It seemed as if it would strike, but at the last second the monster spun out of the way. However the energy struck a wing and it began to spiral down into the platform.

Again it roared and was able to correct itself before it struck the ground and flew quickly at the two weakened kids. Risa got her Key up and blasted it in the face, slowing it down, and fell to the floor. Aiden, though, jumped up, fell through the center of the halo, and landed on the monster's passing back. He grabbed a handful of bandages and began to make his way to the head, causing the creature to roar in surprise. He quickly reached the head and held on as the monster tried to dislodge him. When it righted itself, Aiden yanked on the bandages, twisting its head, to steer it back towards the platform. As it neared the column, Aiden flipped his Keyblade over so he held it upside down and thrust it down into the back of the monster's head. It gave a final roar as Aiden rode it into the side of the column, then jumped off and landed on the platform. The creature fell down into the darkness as Aiden rolled on the column stopping on his back.

Risa hurried over and knelt beside him, "You are freakin' crazy! Jeez! You okay?"

He nodded as he sat up, "Yeah."

She sighed with relief and sat down. "Man, what the heck is going on? How did I end up fighting ginormous monsters, not to mention those Heartless and Nobody things? And this thing," she looked at her Keyblade. "Oh, why is this happening to me!"

Aiden simply shrugged in response. Then, all of a sudden, a dark shadow began to creep towards them from the edge of the column.

"What!" he exclaimed and jumped up. There was another flash of light and Aiden looked down to see that both his and Risa's Keyblades were gone. He tried to summon it back but it wouldn't come.

The darkness surrounded them and formed a pool beneath them. The two began to sink into the darkness. Tendrils crept up and wrapped around their bodies, dragging them in. Risa was frozen with fear and couldn't make a sound or even fight back.

'_This feeling, it's just like what happened back when Aiden first fell out of that portal thing.'_

Aiden on the other hand was struggling hard against the darkness despite his fatigue from the recent battle. He had a strange feeling, '_This has happened to me before! But did this stuff swallow me up last time? No! Damn it, get off of me!'_ Then he noticed that Risa wasn't moving. "Risa, come on! Snap out of it!"

She snapped at the sound of his voice. "Aiden? Help me!"

He waded through the pool of darkness, thought the tendrils were still trying to pull him down. He reached out his hand. Risa struggled against the darkness and tried to reach Aiden's extended hand, but the tendrils pulled her back. She began to loose sight of him as she sunk into darkness. She tried to scream, but suddenly she couldn't breathe and she began to loose consciousness.

"No, damn it!" Aiden cursed as Risa sunk into the black pool. He found himself being dragged down even faster.

A voice laughed. "**YOU SHOULDN'T FEAR THE DARKNESS. DON'T BE AFRAID**."

Aiden caught Risa's hand just before the darkness swallowed them both.

* * *

_A/N: Hope you liked that first chapter. Please review and let me know what you thought about it. Chapter 2 will be up soon._  



	2. Reunion

_Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. That belongs to Square-Enix/Disney, but the OCs are mine._

_A/N: Chapter 2 is finally out! Thanks to those who reviewed Ch 1, this is dedicated to you guys :) But, to everyone else: Come on! Please R/R! The more reviews I get, the faster the chapters come out. I need that constructive criticism, so let me know what you like or dislike about my writing. Enjoy!_

_Notes on the text: __-Thoughts are italicized.  
-The bolded all-caps text was originally written in the Chiller font to give the appearance of a monster talking_

* * *

**Chapter 2: Reunion**

Risa bolted up, gasping for air, and choked. Her eyes watered. '_Where am I? Am I dead?'_ She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes and glanced around to find that she was back in her room. She breathed a sigh of relief and fell back. "What the heck kind of dream was that?" she muttered to herself. She looked at her hand, '_Aiden was there…. Did he have the dream too?'_

She reached over to her nightstand for her glasses. She usually wore contacts, but it was still too early and she was too tired to put them on. A glance at her clock told her it was 5:42 in the morning. It was still dark outside her window. '_Jeez, it's early. I wonder if he's up.'_

Not wanting to wake her mother, Risa quietly got out of bed and put on her bathrobe, then tiptoed down the hall to the guest room. She tapped the door, "Aiden? Hey, Aiden?" There was no response. '_Guess he's not up yet.'_ She cracked the door open a little and saw that the bed was empty.

"Hey, are you in here?" she whispered as she let herself in. Again there was no response, but she felt a gust of cold wind from the open window. She crept closer to the window and saw a hooded figure sitting out on the roof. "Aiden?"

Risa carefully climbed out onto the roof. Smiling, she snuck up behind him and pulled down the hood. "Morning," he muttered, not even looking at her as he continued to watch as the sun began to break over the horizon. Risa scowled at his mood but sat down next to him anyway.

"Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something."

He glanced at her and did a double-take. "When did you start wearing those?" he asked, a little surprised.

"Huh? Oh, these?" She tapped the thin, black frame of her glasses. "Uh, a while ago. I usually wear contacts," she said, then added, "And you better not make fun of me! I hate wearing these."

"Why? They look fine to me."

"Really? But I look like a nerd."

"Not really."

"Uh…thanks," she said, blushing a little. She never expected a complement from him. "Anyway, I wanted to tell you about—"

"The dream, right?"

"Yeah! So you had it too?" She said excitedly. "The one with all the Heartless and Nobody monsters, and that huge bandaged one, and the Keyblade?"

Aiden nodded.

"I knew it! Man, this is weird."

He sighed. "That dream. I don't think it was a dream exactly."

"Huh?" she gave him a questioning look. "Then what the heck was it?"

"I dunno," he muttered, "but I think something bad is about to happen."

"Like what?"

He shook his head and the two of them fell silent and simply watched the sunrise for a moment, enjoying the cool morning breeze.

"Aw, come on," Risa said with a smile and bumped him with her shoulder, "you're brooding even more than usual. Does that sunrise look like it's gonna be a bad day?"

Aiden shrugged and continued to watch the daybreak.

Risa sighed. "Well I'm gonna go get dressed. We still have school today, even if the world is ending," she joked.

"Yeah, I know. I'll be in for breakfast in a few minutes," Aiden told her as she climbed back in through his window.

"Oh, come on!" Risa moaned, huddled on the front porch of her house in her purple jacket, rubbing her hands together to warm them. It was pouring—hard. Even though she stood underneath the shelter of her porch, the wind was blowing the water in her face. She shivered and looked up at the dark cloud-filled sky, "What the hell happened to the sun! Now we gotta walk through this? Aiden, hurry up! I'm getting soaked out here!"

Aiden appeared and handed her an umbrella and a pair of woolen fingerless gloves, "Your mom said to give these to you."

"Thanks," she responded, though she couldn't see how the umbrella would help with the wind blowing the rain sideways. "And don't you say anything!"

Aiden looked surprised, "About what?"

"Uh, this morning…the bad day…nevermind," she said, a little annoyed. "Hey, what's with your hands?" she asked as she noticed the black hand wraps.

"Huh? Oh, your mom didn't have any spare gloves."

Risa cocked an eyebrow but didn't say anything and they began their trek through the rain in silence. They walked next to each other, but Aiden let her have the umbrella to herself and walked in the rain with his hood down. He got drenched quickly, but didn't say anything.

"Aiden, why don't we share the umbrella?" she offered.

"It's alright," he responded with his dark bangs matted over his eyes.

"Come on, you're gonna catch a cold or something."

"No, I like this," he told her. "The rain feels good." '_Like it's washing something away….'_

They arrived at school and the afternoon passed by uneventfully. The rain poured constantly, but nothing happened, except that Risa forced Aiden to spend lunch in the cafeteria. He sat and ate with her and her friends. Risa had introduced them to him a while ago, but he'd never hung out with them and didn't get to know them, nor did he bother to do so. So, he ate his lunch quietly and just listened to them talk about normal things. "Why is it still raining?" Risa yelled at the sky as the two of them stepped outside after school. "You know, maybe you were right about this being a bad day."

"This isn't what I meant, exactly," he muttered as they started home. Then, all of a sudden, it hit him again, that…hunger. He screamed as he fell to his knees in the mud, clutching his head.

"Aiden!" she quickly knelt down next to him, covering them both with the umbrella. A worried look crossed her face.

Aiden heard the voice in him laughing, "**THEY'RE COMING…**"

'_What? Who is?'_ he yelled back.

"**THIS WORLD HAS BEEN CONNECTED, ITS DOOR IS OPEN!**"

'_What does that mean?'_

"**THIS WORLD IS DOOMED!**"

'_What!'_

The voice didn't respond and Aiden felt the presence disappear. Risa watched as the yellow eyes faded back into brown and the shadows creeping across his face receded.

"Aiden?"

He nodded in response and stood up. Suddenly he reeled and fell to one knee.

"Hey, what's going on? You okay?" she asked worriedly.

"Yeah." He shook his head and stood up straight. "Something's coming. We have to get home." With that, he took off running.

"Wait, what?" Risa ran after him. "Aiden! What's happening?" Up ahead, she saw him slide to a stop.

'_No!_' His Keyblade flashed into his hand. "Risa! The Heartless are here!"

She came to a halt, "What? That's impossible. That was a dream. That was only a dream, wasn't it?" All of a sudden, pools of shadows materialized around them. Slowly, the black creatures from the dream formed out of the darkness. "No way…," she whispered as the umbrella slipped from her grasp.

Aiden glanced around, '_Shit! We're surrounded.'_ Suddenly, there was a bright flash of light behind him. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Risa looking down in amazement at the Keyblade in her hand.

"It's real," she murmured.

"Look out!"

"Wha–?" Aiden's Keyblade swung over her head and she found herself covered in a black cloud that quickly abated.

'_The hell is that?'_ Aiden wondered. A glowing pink object rose out of the defeated Heartless.

Risa noticed it as well, "Is that a…heart?"

The remaining Heartless didn't give them time to ponder the question and attacked. Aiden sliced through two more.

"But what about the people in the town?" Risa asked him, firing her Keyblade.

"We can't worry about that," he said reluctantly, "There's too many."

Risa glanced around at the cloud of darkness around them, '_This is hopeless!'_

Indeed, as Aiden looked around for an escape route he saw that the amount of Heartless was steadily increasing. New types were also appearing. In addition to those he saw in the dream, Aiden noticed a lot of smaller, weaker looking versions.

'_Shit, there's a lot of these things!'_ Aiden thought as he and Risa ended up back to back.

"Do you have a plan or something?" Risa shouted. She was swinging her Keyblade wildly and firing randomly trying to keep the Heartless at bay, but their numbers were growing. Behind her Aiden swung his weapon in wide arcs, taking out several enemies at once. Hearts were almost constantly bursting out of Heartless on his side, but he was getting tired. He grimaced as several finally managed to scratch him. He returned the favor and sliced them in half.

Then, without warning, Risa let out a scream. Aiden whirled and watched in horror as a wave of Heartless rose up and tackled into Risa. "Aiden!" she screamed as she disappeared into the mass of shadows.

All of a sudden, he realized something, '_This has happened before! I've dreamt about this…' _

_Darkness_. Darkness was everywhere. It was pitch black all around. The dark even seemed to be seeping into his body. He was tired, couldn't hold out much longer. **Fight**. He had to keep fighting, keep the darkness from getting a hold of him. Someone else was there. He was struggling against the darkness as well. **Help him**. He had to help him, he was being called. But the darkness was too much. He felt himself being lifted up and away.

"Aiden!"

'_No! That's not gonna happen this time. They're not gonna take us!' _Aiden kicked away the creature in front of him and began hacking away at the mountain of Heartless.

"Damn it! Get _off_ of her!" he yelled. Aiden performed a Full Swing, turning his blade sideways and swinging it, hard, against the pile. Grunting, he shoved the mass of Heartless off of Risa and sent them flying through the air. Several puffed into smoke, releasing their hearts.

The point of Aiden's blade sunk into the ground as he fell to one knee. His breathing was labored and his arms were shaking. He glared around at the surrounding Heartless. They backed off a little, wary of their opponent. Aiden took the time to check Risa quickly.

"Damn it!" he swore under his breath. Risa was curled in the fetal position, moaning in pain. Across her back were several deep gashes with blood pouring out. '_Shit! What do I do? Can't leave her here, but I can't fight if I'm carrying her around…Wait!'_ Quickly he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Potion he'd found in the treasure chest. He examined it. It was a small vial filled with a blue liquid. '_It's real? This is better than nothing. But how do I open it? There's no stopper or anything.'_

"Screw it," he muttered. He was running out of time and the Heartless would resume the attack at any minute, so he simply crushed the bottle in his hand. He was surprised to find that it broke easily and the glass did not harm his hand. He let the blue liquid pour out onto Risa's injured back and was relieved as he watched the wound close up and the blood disappear.

Risa looked up in surprise, "What did you do?"

"Later. We have to move." Aiden grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. She winced a little since she wasn't fully healed but did not object. "Follow me. We're gonna cut a path right through."

She nodded.

Aiden let out a war cry and led the charge, Risa following closely behind. He realized that some of the Potion must have soaked into him as he felt renewed strength and energy. He cut a wide path with his Keyblade, swinging it in big arcs to take out several Heartless at once. Risa fired her Keyblade rapidly destroying or at least weakening those farther away and also tried to keep a small buffer behind them.

They made steady progress through the horde of Heartless, but Risa was inexperienced at fighting, especially in the rain and mud. Her wound wasn't helping either. She began to slow down and Heartless began to close in on her.

"Aiden…I…I can't keep this up," she whispered and began to collapse. He caught her around the waist and held her up.

"No, c'mon Risa. We can make it," he reassured her, though he was starting to doubt that. He was tired and wounded, she couldn't even stand, and the Heartless were still coming. But the house was just ahead. Aiden made a small clearing and knelt in front of Risa, "Get on."

Risa collapsed onto his back, but as she got her arms around his neck, her Keyblade began to dissolve until all that was left was the little ribbon keychain that had dangled off the hilt. "Here," she whispered, letting it fall into his hand.

"**PUT IT ON…**"

'_What?'_

"**ATTACH IT TO THE KEY…**"

He snapped Risa's Keychain to the bottom of his Keyblade, next to the blue crystal that was already attached. Suddenly, Aiden's Keyblade began to glow with a white-blue light that made the surrounding Heartless cower and back away. When it faded, Aiden was surprised to see his Key was now wrapped in the ribbon that composed Risa's Keyblade. He pointed it ahead of him and fired off several white blasts of energy, clearing a short path.

He adjusted Risa on his back and took off, back into the mass of shadows. He wielded his weapon with his right arm, using the other to support the girl. With only one arm he fought his way through the dark horde of creatures, slashing angrily at any that got too close and putting his Key's new ability to work, almost constantly firing ahead to keep his path open. His legs and arms began to burn with exhaustion, but he didn't care anymore. All he could do was keep on fighting. Keep fighting and protect the weakened girl clinging to his back. But Aiden began to slow. He was panting again and once more the Heartless were overwhelming them. He constantly had to turn and fight the monsters closing in on them to keep Risa out of danger.

She noticed his fatigue. "Aiden, just leave me," she whispered in his ear. "I'm only getting in your way. At least you'll have a chance to escape…"

"Shut…up," he grunted back. "What do you…think your…mom would do to me?"

Risa smiled weakly.

"**YOU IDIOT! THE GIRL IS RIGHT, LEAVE HER!**"

'_Shut up! Whatever happened last time is not going to happen now! I'm not leaving her behind!'_

Aiden kept up his charge through the darkness and with one final attack he slashed and fired his Key simultaneously. Heartless erupted into black clouds all around them and suddenly they burst out of the horde. '_Finally!'_

The house was just ahead. He dismissed his Keyblade in a flash and made a mad dash for the house. He charged across the lawn, hoping to god he didn't slip in the wet grass and mud, up the steps to the porch, and through the front door.

Rose screamed as Aiden flew through the door and slid across the floor with her daughter on his back. Risa rolled off his back and Aiden scampered towards the door and kicked it shut. Several thumps sounded as Heartless collided with it. With a sigh of relief, Aiden collapsed onto his back, his chest heaving.

"Oh my god! What happened?" Rosa shrieked. She hurried over to examine her daughter.

"Heart…less," Aiden winced as he pulled himself to a sitting position against the wall.

"What?" Aiden gestured out the window. Rosa yelped and stumbled backwards at the sight. "Wh-what are they? Where did those…those monsters come from?"

Aiden shook his head.

"We…made it, Mom," Risa said weakly. Slowly, she tried to get up.

"No, don't try to get up, hon."

Aiden watched the creatures gathering outside. "I don't know how long these walls will hold 'em…."

"You kids stay here," Rosa instructed as she left the room. "I'll be right back."

'_Damn, what now? We can't stay here forever; the Heartless will get through eventually…'_

Risa managed to sit herself against the opposite wall. "Hey, thanks, Aiden…"

Aiden shook his head, "Don't worry about it."

Rose came back carrying two towels and several vials that looked like Potions, but contained a green liquid. She broke several over each of their heads. Suddenly, Aiden felt his strength returning. His fatigue lifted and his wounds closed quickly. Across from him, the same thing was happening to Risa. Rose covered them both with the towels then got a fire burning in the fireplace.

They fell silent for a few minutes. The two teens just sat quietly by the fire and let their clothes dry. Outside, the rain was still beating against the house and the wind began to whistle louder and louder. The dark clouds covered the sky; it was hard to believe it was still day. Aiden watched through a window as the Heartless seemed to give up and began to disperse.

"**YOU KNOW, THIS IS YOUR FAULT…THEY WANT THE KEYBEARER…**"

"I'm sorry," he told the other two. "The Heartless are probably after me, because of the Keyblade. When you found me, I had a dream of this happening to me before. At least, I thought it was a dream. Now I see that it was really a memory…"

"Aiden, it's not—," Risa began.

He got up, "I have to go."

"No you don't," Rose told him. "Look, those things are gone now, you'll be safe here."

"They'll be back. I'm only putting you and your daughter in danger. The only way you'll be safe is if I leave."

"So, your mind is made up, then?"

"I don't have much of a choice."

"Fine," Rose sighed. "At least let me get you some supplies." She left the room and came back a few moments later to hand Aiden his backpack. He looked inside and saw that it was full of food and Potions.

"Mom," Risa said, quietly, "you better make one for me too."

"What?" exclaimed Aiden and Rose simultaneously.

"I'm going too!"

"Risa, no!"

"Mom, we can't just abandon him like this!" Risa turned to the boy, "And, you still have my Keyblade."

Aiden scratched the back of his head, unsure of what to do. Then, he felt it. The darkness was growing again. He rushed to the window and scanned the area outside. '_But there's no Heartless….'_

Risa noticed the worried look on his face, "Hey, what's goin' on?"

Outside, the storm picked up. The wind was howling, rain crashed against the windows. Lightning flashed through the sky and thunder boomed. The black clouds above began to spiral.

'_Oh, shit!'_ Aiden ran back and tackled both women to the ground just as – CRASH! – a massive black arm burst through the roof and smashed into the living room. It pulled back and another arm joined it and they tore the roof open, throwing debris everywhere, even knocking down one of the walls. Aiden struggled to stand up and threw several chunks of ceiling off his back. The two women huddled together frozen with fear. Aiden spun around.

"**DARKSIDE…**"

Behind him stood a massive heartless. It was similar in appearance to the larger shadows Aiden had fought earlier, but stood at least three stories tall. Its head was wrapped in a mass of dark tendrils in which lay a pair of bright, glowing yellow eyes. In its torso was a hole carved into the shape of a heart.

"Risa," Aiden muttered, keeping his eyes on the monster, "Risa, snap out of it!"

She jumped.

"Hey, you and your mom get out of here. I'll distract this thing, you guys run."

"But what about you?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll come find you after I finish with this thing." He smiled and summoned his Keyblade, "Besides, I still have this. I'll give it back."

She nodded and turned to her mother, "Mom, come on! We have to go!" Slowly, still in shock, Rose stood up and allowed herself to be led out through the remains of the house and out the back door. "Don't die!" Risa called back.

Aiden stepped out through the destroyed wall and saw a small case in the middle of the rubble. Inside were Risa's glasses. He stuffed the case into a pocket. '_Not planning on it,'_ he thought as he spun his sword and settled into a battle stance, staring the monster down. '_Come on!'_

Darkside knelt down and aimed a giant fist at Aiden. He rolled out of the way. The fist struck the earth, but, strangely, there was no sound. Instead a dark pool spread out from the hand and the little Heartless crawled out of it. The little creatures instantly tried to attack him, but were cut down by the Keyblade. As Aiden fought the flow of Heartless coming from the pool, Darkside's other hand crashed down behind him and created another.

"Damn it," Aiden muttered as he now had to spin as he fought to keep the creatures off his back. Suddenly, an idea stuck him. He concentrated for a second and a ghostly image of Risa's Keyblade overlapped his own. He grabbed its handle and pulled them apart. The ribbon around his Keyblade quickly receded and Risa's Key separated, becoming solid in his other hand. He smiled. Now he had two weapons to fight with.

A small Heartless leapt at him. Using the new Key, he batted it aside with a sharp strike to the head and followed up with his blue Keyblade that sliced through three more charging towards him. He struck another on the head with Risa's Key and knocked it out. He cut another in half. But the Heartless kept coming.

'_Damn, I have to stop this,'_ he grunted to himself as he fended off the creatures, and glanced around for a solution. Suddenly, he had it. Quickly he cleared some space around himself and pointed the ribbon-wrapped Keyblade upwards—right into Darkside's face. He fired.

Several bolts of energy struck the giant and it pulled back silently, its arms retracting from the ground to cover its face. The pools of darkness faded away. If it had a voice it would probably have been wailing in pain. Aiden took his chance to clear out the remaining Heartless. He finished off the last one and slapped his Keys together. The ribbon appeared once more around his Keyblade and he turned to face Darkside.

"Mom! Come on, you have to hurry up," Risa yelled over the wind as she struggled to drag her mother away from the wreckage of the house.

Rose looked back. "Our house," she whispered, still in shock.

"Mom!" Risa yanked on her wrist, pulling her into the forest behind their home. Taking a quick look back, she saw Heartless forming from shadows in her backyard. She ran harder and her mother stumbled behind her. '_Damn it Aiden! Hurry up!'_

The two of them moved quickly through the trees, the Heartless close behind. They ran deeper and deeper into the woods. Risa had explored a little bit of the forest as a little girl but had never gone this deep before. The trees soon became thicker and thicker until the two women were forced to slow down as they avoided the branches seeming to reach out to stop them. Risa began to panic as the woods became darker. There was no telling where the Heartless might be hiding.

Suddenly, a root caught Risa's foot and she screamed as she flew out of the forest. She landed hard in the middle of a clearing, the wind knocked out of her.

"Risa!" Rose hurried to her daughter who lay gasping in the small clearing, but someone else was there. "Who are you?" she asked warily.

Risa calmed down as she recovered and felt her mother's hands on her shoulders. She opened an eye to see who else was there, but all she could make out was a dark, blurry figure. She opened both eyes to focus, but discovered that everything was blurry. '_My contacts!' _she realized. Her hands began groping the ground around her. Then, the figure moved forward and she heard a cracking sound. She looked up angrily at the figure, but suddenly felt her mother trembling beside her.

"Mom? Mom, what's wrong?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry about that," the figure said mockingly. He crouched before the two women. "You two are the ones who took care of Him, right? I guess I should be nicer to you."

The figure stood up. Risa saw a flash and then everything went black.

Aiden jumped back as Darkside's fist came down again. When the pool of darkness began to form beneath it, he rushed in and quickly attacked the hand, forcing the monster to pull it back.

'_Can't let him trap me like that again,'_ he told himself.

Darkside seemed to have only one pattern of attack: punch the ground and summon Heartless. But Aiden was able to easily stop it by attacking its hand whenever it came down. However, he needed a way to bring him down for good. Attacking the hands wasn't doing much, other than stopping the flow of Heartless.

'_The head, that has to be the weak point,'_ he realized. '_Need a way to reach it…the knees!'_

The massive fist was coming down again, but this time, Aiden ignored it. He rolled underneath it, letting Darkside create his pool and summon Heartless. It was a distraction; Darkside wouldn't move much as it created the portal for the Heartless. Aiden ran between the giant's legs and quickly attacked the back of its knees. Several swipes brought the monster down to its hands and knees. Swiftly, Aiden jumped onto its ankle and onto its back. He stabbed his Keyblade into Darkside's lower back to pull himself up. Darkside's head arched back in pain and Aiden scrambled across its back as it began to get up.

The monster pulled its hands out of the ground and tried to grab the boy, but Aiden grabbed onto one of the tendrils wrapped around its face and began climbing its head. One of the hands got close, but Aiden shot it, causing it to retreat. However, Darkside followed with its other hand. Aiden held onto a long tendril tightly and used it to swing around to the other side of its head. The hand missed and Darkside managed smack himself dizzy. Aiden held on as the monster began to stumble around and made his way to the top of its head. He braced himself, flipped his Keyblade over, and thrust it into the top of the giant Heartless' head. He stabbed it quickly twice more and Darkside finally went down. The massive body struck the ground hard enough to imprint the ground and crush all the Heartless it had summoned. Aiden tumbled off its head and rolled to his feet in time to see a large heart float out of the disintegrating body.

He let out a sigh of relief and allowed his tired body to kneel down and rest a little.

"Bravo, nice job."

Aiden jumped up and spun at the sound of the voice followed by muffled applause. Behind him stood a dark figure dressed shredded, tight pants, a red shirt, and a sleeveless hoodie. His hood was up, hiding all but the lower part of his face.

"Nice to see you haven't totally forgotten how to fight."

"Who're you?"

"Ow, I'm hurt," the figure responded with mock sadness. "You've forgotten me already? It's only been a year."

'_The hell is up with this guy? His voice, it sounds like a kid,' _Aiden noticed. '_But I recognize it. It sounds so familiar…' _"What do you want?"

"So you really have forgotten."

"Did you bring the Heartless here?"

"Heh, yeah, I did. But if I knew you were gonna be here, I would've brought something stronger."

"So this is all your fault!" Aiden quickly dropped into his fighting stance, Keyblade ready.

"**I KNOW HIM.**"

'_What?'_

The figure laughed, "Actually, it's more your fault."

"**EVERYTHING IS HIS FAULT!**" the voice roared.

'_How do you know him?_

"I see you've got it back."

"What are you talking about?"

"Your Keyblade."

"**LET ME OUT! I'LL KILL HIM!**"

"Ah, that's how you got out, right?"

'_Where have I heard that voice before?'_

"So, you really can't remember?"

"Who are you?"

"Heh, it's me, _Brother_," he replied, stressing the last word. "Kaze."

'_Who? Brother?'_ Images began to flash through Aiden's mind. Darkness was everywhere. Someone else was there, struggling against the darkness. He had to help him. He was calling for him. "Aiden!"

"SHUT UP!" Aiden roared and charged at the figure before him.

"Whoa! Hold on! I don't think you'd want to hurt these two." Kaze snapped his fingers and a dark grey mist began to seep out of him. It spread out and quickly formed into two ghostly creatures. Both were about the size of a man, skinny, and hunched over with long arms ending in massive claws. In their claws they held the unconscious bodies of Risa and Rose.

Aiden slid to a stop. "What the hell'd you do to them!"

"Oh, nothing—yet." There was a bright flash of light and a short, silver Keyblade appeared in the figure's outstretched arm.

"Let 'em go, you bastard!" Aiden shouted.

"You know, you shouldn't call your brother names."

"Shut up! I don't have a brother!"

Risa stirred and opened her eyes, "Aiden? What's going on?"

"Watch this! These people can't replace your real family. Once I get rid of them, you'll remember and I'll take you back!" Suddenly, Kaze spun around and thrust his Key into Rose's heart.

"NO!"

Aiden watched, paralyzed as the Key was ripped out of her. The misty creature holding Rose dissipated letting her limp body fall to the ground as her heart floated into the sky. Slowly the body disappeared'_No…'_

"Let me go!" Risa cried, struggling against the creature. "Mom! Mom!"

Aiden fell to his knees. '_This can't be happening.'_

The figure laughed at them.

'_You bastard!'_

Kaze stepped in front of Risa and smiled, "Now it's your turn." He pulled his Keyblade back, aiming at her heart. She was paralyzed with fear, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Aiden!"

"**I'LL KILL YOU!**"

The figure paused and looked over his shoulder. "What the hell…?"

Aiden stood up slowly and his head snapped up to reveal his glowing yellow eyes. Darkness spread from his eyes across the left side of his head and hair, down his neck and across the left side of his body, and enveloped both legs. Tendrils of darkness spiraled down his left arm and turned his left hand into an enormous claw.

In a flash Aiden was on him and the two locked Keyblades.

"The hell is this?" Kaze grunted. "You're no Heartless, you still have the Keyblade."

Aiden responded with a low, angry hiss. He slashed at his opponent with his claws—but they simply slipped through a cloud of steam. Aiden glanced over his shoulder to find the tip of his brother's Keyblade in his face. The Key had extended to twice its original length and had steam pouring from between the separated teeth.

"So, you gave into the darkness," Kaze smiled. "I knew you would."

Aiden batted the Key away with his claw as he spun around and quickly began to slash wildly with both his Keyblade and claws. But each strike was easily blocked or parried by his enemy.

"Aw, come on. Is this all you've got?" Kaze whined as he side kicked his brother in the chest. As Aiden flew backwards, Kaze teleported once again in a puff of steam—and met Aiden's foot. Aiden had spun in midair and caught the kid in the face as soon as he appeared behind him.

Kaze hit the ground and slid as Aiden flipped off his face and charged after him. He moved quickly, crouched low to the ground with his Keyblade and claw trailing behind him. Aiden caught Kaze's hoodie with his claw and flung him into the air. He jumped up and slashed with his Keyblade. Kaze barely blocked it and was thrown higher as the Keys collided. As he began to fall, Aiden jumped for him once again but Kaze kicked off the Keyblade, pushing Aiden back down.

Both combatants hit the ground and stared each other down.

"Come on, Aiden. You've been taken by the darkness already. Why don't you come with me?" Kaze asked.

Aiden's eyes narrowed and he hissed in response.

All of a sudden the ground began to shake and the wind picked up. The rain came to a halt as the dark clouds above slowly began to spiral.

Kaze dismissed his Keyblade. "Oh well, looks like our little reunion has come to an end." He waved an arm behind him and opened a dark portal. "Until next time, bro," he said with a bow and stepped backwards through the portal. Aiden charged after him, but the portal closed and he simply slid through it as it disappeared.

The creature holding Risa faded away and she fell to the floor. "Aiden!" she cried as she hurried to him.

Aiden turned at the sound of her voice and the darkness receded. He fell forward as he returned to normal and his Keyblade vanished. He clutched at his chest and gasped as pain shot through it, '_Damn!'_ He looked around and found that the rain had stopped and the wind was howling louder than before. '_What happened? Where'd he go?'_

"Aiden!" she shouted over the wind. "What's going on? I saw you turn into a black thing. Are you okay?"

'_Black thing?'_ He nodded.

"And what about Mom? Is she…is she dead?

Before he could respond, the wind began to speed up and the ground around them started to break up and fly upwards. They looked up to find a large ball of darkness floating in the sky pulling everything into it, trees, rocks, and even the remains of the house were being drawn into it. All of a sudden, Risa's feet left the floor and she began to panic. As she rose into the darkness, Aiden caught her hand.

"Don't let go!" she shrieked over the wind whistling past them. All around them, the planet was disappearing, being eaten by the darkness.

"Don't worry," he assured her, "everything'll be alright." He relaxed and let the darkness take them.

* * *

_A/N: So, did you guys like that? Leave a review to let me know. Hopefully Chapter 3 won't take another 2 months..._


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